Artist, Writer

January 24, 2017January 24, 2017

Time to wake up

Read an interview with Brian Eno in The Guardian and it was quite interesting in that he says that most people thought they were going to be the revolution to arise over the last few years. In fact conservatives have taken the initiative and set the course. It hasn’t been sudden either especially in Australia where conservative values have been slowly mediated with the attack on alternative values becoming bolder. It has been from the media and they have really pushed alternative values to the brink. Populism has been rising for years to the point where independent politicians are a serious force to be reckoned with.

The funny thing is the major parties pushed the agenda of conservative economic agendas, glorifying the ever allusive surplus. People started to realise that their taxes were being used for penny pinching. The state government in NSW has been spending on infrastructure but actually not as much as they actually should. The wise purse has kind of become a curse that is leading people to find alternatives. The problem is the alternatives are usually worse in regard to the social well being of the nation. There really is no high ground anymore. It is just one step through the mud to the next.

The independents are listening though while the major parties are just getting the feeling that things are unravelling. With the new state premier the first thing she jumped on was housing affordability. One of the most endemic problems of the last decade or more. It is not hard to be skeptical. Also why now? It is pretty much too late to really do anything substantial. The idea of markets setting the course has damaged housing affordability. Sure initially people were making a lot of money but it is a road to inequality and nobody cared from major parties. The people who got stuck in the end days of the boom are not going to make much money back and there is no incentive unless you leave the city.

Now at least we know what we are dealing with. It isn’t about simply fighting back with protests but with our investment in ideals. You can’t have economic management as the key issue. People should know that when people make money and get very rich it is a minority who win. We need to skip the economic clap trap and realise we need to have a win for the majority that doesn’t scream of compromise. Big business is a model for profits, we need to think about keeping money in our communities or else it will be siphoned off for the rich and we are screwed to servitude. The funny thing is the way governments and businesses are acting is actually drying up the overall potential for long term gains anyway. With businesses looking overseas for profits and growth we have been left to stagnate in a very difficult position. Protectionism won’t be the answer either. A mix of both seems to be the answer from the new status quo, but as Eno said we have been in decline for 40 years and it is time to wake up.